Maybe this thread will also help others in this situation. I like assembling a very powerful and effective group, but after playing through the game 5 times I'm ready to try characters I haven't given much of a chance. I am having a hard time finding strong characters other than the ones I have used so much in the past. For those of you who use Locke, Celes, Strago, Setzer, and Mog, how can they possibly be effective party members? I need your help. I'll list all the good characters (in my opinion), and then talk about the lesser characters of the game (again, in my opinion). I challenge everyone to refute anything I say about these characters.
Gau (in my group): When you know how to use Gau, no one else is stronger. So no matter what happens, Gau will always be in my group. I've tried everyone, and Gau always proves to be the most powerful by far. He's the type of guy that makes bosses way too easy. Catscratch, Giga Volt, Flare Star, Shock, need I go on? He's the best in the evasion department, and his other stats are relatively high. Sure you can't control him when he's raged, but you have 3 other characters to control. That's plenty, and it provides the best battle flow. There may be situations where he has to rely on magic spells. There's nothing wrong with that.
Cyan (in my group): He accels at physical attacks with swdtech. Yes the charge up time can halt your entire party, but only if you don't provide a good battle flow. Have your other guys attack first, then charge up the techniques. Gau attacks automatically, so that helps. Cyan has low speed, magic power and evasion, but he makes up for it in raw defense and battle power.
Terra (in my group): Her magic power rivals Celes', and Morph puts her over the top. Only Relm has more magic power. Terra can use Atma Weapon, which is a fine weapon for any magic user. Her stats are around average, with a healthy amount of magic defense. She is quite effective in battle.
Edgar (in my group): While his stats arn't impressive, his tools are quite useful, and add a unique element to any group. He's a good utility man, who can confuse the enemy, focus attacks on one enemy or hit all enemies... at no charge. Any character with the ability to do this is at an advantage.
Sabin (used to be in group): Sabin accels at his elemental and non-elemental blitz attacks. His wide variety of moves come at no charge. The percentage at which his attacks are executed depends on the player. When you can pull off Aurabolt, Fire Dance, Air Blade and Bum Rush every time, Sabin is definately a very powerful force. His claw attacks are usually pretty good too.
Shadow (just started using): This guy's stats are very close to Locke's stats, and the throw command can be quite effective. His physical attacks are quite strong, and many thrown weapons do a lot of damage. Cheap ninja stars and skeans provide an affordable way to use the throw command. His evasion is better than average. His dog provides powerful attacks too.
Relm (the would be good character): It's a shame that Sketch is so buggy. Relm has the highest magic power, far exceeding Celes and Terra's. The Sketch command is fun to use, because you never know what you're going to get. Plus it provides many strong attacks. But bugs in the game kill this character. Sketch can cause the game to hang at any time, and for me it happens very often. It's not just on invisible monsters... it can happen anytime for what seems like no reason at all. You simply can't use a character that freezes the game.
---- The Lesser Characters ----
Locke: With his stats being comparable to Shadow's, he has high speed and decent attack power. He can use weapons that do the same damage from the back row. But why use him when the special abilities of other characters do a lot more damage than Locke's fight command? Steal is pretty much useless in most battles. Oh wow, he can steal Tonics and Antidotes, or the occasional weapon that's obsolete anyway. Meanwhile your party is taking hits while he tries to steal (and many times it doesn't even succeed). His magic power is low. Simply put, Locke has no means of performing a powerful attack.
Celes: She's basically a Terra clone with a worse ability. When you equip her with Atma Weapon, she can't even use her special ability. Runic is only good when you first get her, when any magic used by enemies can be devastating. Later in the game, the significance of enemy used magic dwindles. In most situations runic is useless. Her physical attack is nothing impressive. The only thing she has going for her is her magic power. Then again, any character can be raised to be a strong magic user, while keeping his/her powerful special ability. If you're worried about magic so much, use wall rings.
Strago: Here's an old man with pitiful stats. Maybe when he was 20 years old he was strong, but he has passed his years. His lore ability is a troublesome thing to deal with. Most of his Lore abilties Gau can do for free. Strago has the worst physical attack. His virtues? Hmm, that's a tough one. Does he have any?
Setzer: Here's another character with poor stats. His slot ability is weak or ineffective most of the time. His physical attack is nothing special. The only thing good about him is his occasional powerful slot attack. Mugu mugu?
Mog: Mog starts out with a nice amount of hit points, and his stats arn't bad. His dance ability is pretty good too, but if you're already using Gau in your party, having a second non-controllable character is not good at all. Since Gau is much more powerful than Mog, there's no place for the furry critter. The annoying thing about dance is that you waste many turns trying to get it to work. Mog stumbles too much. His magic ability is only average.
Gogo and Umaro come into play too late in the game to be considered, unless you plan on playing through most of the game with only 3 characters in your party. Gogo's stats are horrifying anyway. Umaro is a strong physical fighter, but as with Mog, having him with Gau is not good.
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